Happy Tuesday, y’all! This week, Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl handed the reins to Leslie from Books Are the New Black. And what has Leslie picked? She has gone with a freebie- this time, an indie freebie. We can share our favorite indie bookstores, authors, publishers, etc. Unfortunately, I don’t tend to read many indie books or visit indie bookstores. So instead, I’ve pivoted and share my thoughts and experiences with a new book-tracking app. Have you heard of the Hardcover App? These are my eight thoughts on the Hardcover app.
Like many readers, I’ve wanted to separate from Goodreads, which is much easier said than done. I joined Goodreads in 2008 and have used it ever since. As a book blogger, it feels like Goodreads, or some book tracker, is needed.
In December 2025, I came across a YouTube video that compared and contrasted a range of digital reading trackers. I found the video, so you can see what Gina Lucia Reads says about the many book trackers available.
As you can see, she did a lot of the hard work! Of the alternatives she tested, I decided to try the Hardcover App. After using it for over eight months, I wanted to share my thoughts.
Number 1: Website and App Available
I don’t know about you, but I love having the flexibility to access my data in different ways. You can find the website here. The app itself is available for iOS and Android.
Number 2: Ability to Edit Books
On Goodreads, only select people can add and edit books. But on the Hardcover app, you can add various editions and even add missing data like page count and audiobook length. Don’t get me wrong, not everyone has access to edit all of the data. But it’s pretty cool that casual users can add editions!
Number 3: Stats
Sure, Goodreads tracks pages read and such. But Hardcover breaks it down into pages read, hours listened, number of authors read, and more. See my July stats!
Number 4: Series Tracker
Have you ever seen a reading tracker app or website that includes a series tracker? I certainly haven’t. The one on Hardcover tracks series you’ve read and tracks the books you may have missed. It also includes upcoming releases. Below are just a couple of examples from my series tracker.
Number 5: Easy Import
As someone with a huge number of books on Goodreads, I was terrified of transferring my data from one site to another. Thankfully, Hardcover had a beginner’s guide and step-by-step instructions for completing the transfer. With the volume of data I had, it took roughly 10 minutes. A couple of items didn’t transfer, but I received an email listing them and letting me add them manually.
Number 6: Emails
One thing about Goodreads that annoys me to no end is how many emails I receive from them. I’m sure there is a way to adjust that in my account, but who has time for that? With Hardcover, I get 1-2 emails a month. And those are typically from Adam, the founder. Those emails are updates on the site and the app. Adam also gives subscribers a look into his life.
Number 7: Passion Project
Speaking of Adam, he started Hardcover as a passion project. I don’t know about you, but I love supporting people and their passion projects. His life has changed a lot since starting Hardcover; this year, he was able to work full-time on the site and leave his “day job.”
Number 8: Goals
While you can set goals on Goodreads, it seems to be only the number of books read. Hardcover offers more variety if you want to diversify your reading. And I think that’s great!
Overall, I’ve enjoyed my experience with the Hardcover app. I will admit I struggle to keep the information up to date because I don’t have the app on my phone. I do have the app on my tablet, and I really should use it more.
Those are my thoughts on the Hardcover app. Have you ever heard of the Hardcover app? If so, have you tried it? What reading tracker do you use? What do you like about it?
Are you looking for some more books to read? Check out my other bookish lists, book reviews, and monthly reading wrap-ups.
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I have never heard of this app. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this Pam. I have not heard of Hardcover app. The main thing I love from your list is the series tracker. I have so many on the go that it’s tough to keep track. Not sure if I will switch, as this old dog isn’t necessarily up to learning new tricks, but it sounds promising.
This app sounds interesting for sure!
I had no idea there were so many book apps. O_O
I’m sure there are many more than we actually know about.
Thanks for sharing this. Ive tried alternatives to Goodreads but I haven’t found anything I’ve been happier with yet. I may check this out.
Thanks for sharing your #TTT
I’m so glad you found a tracker app you like! I haven’t used GR much for a long time now. Not because I have issues with its setup, but just because I’m lazy about keeping up with stats / tracking. 😉 Maybe someday if I get serious, I’ll have to look into some of these. Thanks for sharing! And for visiting my list today.
Goodreads is a part of my life even if the DEMON bought it. However, if you are a series fiction lover this app would be great. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
I feel like many readers agree with you about GR. It’s the original tracker, one we’ve all become comfortable with over the years.
Sadly, sometimes biggest is best. I can do all kinds of things with the data I have. That sings to the professional side of my life. I’m a law firm librarian [again was out of it for about 16 years] and love charts of books!
I’ve not heard of this app. It sounds really good. Whether I will be brave enough to make the jump though 😂
Have a great week!
I haven’t fully made the jump, I still use it in tandem with GR.
I think I’d have to do that 😊
I’ve never heard of Hardcover before but it does sound interesting! This year I’ve been using Storygraph a bit more but still in tandem with Goodreads. Some of the features you’ve mentioned for this sound similar to SG, but I do like the sound of the series tracker too!
I’m still using GR for the most part. But I think it’s mostly due to familiarity than anything.
I hadn’t heard about this app, but it sounds interesting! I especially love the stats, series tracker and goals aspects so maybe I really need to look into making the switch 🙂
I haven’t heard about Hardcover, but I agree with the complaints about Goodreads. (I managed to turn off the email notifications from GR so I know it’s possible even if I don’t remember now how I did it.)
I’ve been using StoryGraph for some time now, and it appears to share some similarities with Hardcover—both are passion projects, to start with. I do love the idea of a series tracker, though, so I may try out Hardcover too as a comparison.
I’ve been tempted to give Storygraph a try, but I’m not sure it’s what I want, or need.
I like Storygraph a lot, but I’m always open to trying a new option. I especially like that both Storygraph and Hardcover are made by small teams.
It does sound interesting. Is it free like Goodreads? I love that it tracks series and goals, in addition to the normal things. Have a great week!
It is free, but there is also a paid membership available. I’m not sure what the cost is, as I’ve stuck with the free membership.
Sounds like you had a good experience with it!
Never heard of this app, sounds like it has some good facets. I managed to turn off emails at GR except for the annoying – you have finished such and such. I know why are you telling me!
I hate those emails. It was different years ago when I didn’t have 600 books on my TBR. But now that I do, I don’t need recs from them.
I’ve not heard of this app before. It looks interesting. And I really like how you broke down the various aspects of this app. I will have to check it out.
That actually sounds like an awesome tracker for sure! I am surprised I had not heard of it until now.
I have the feeling this app has many similarities to The Storygraph. I’ve watched the video you’ve embedded as well many months ago, but this post gives me a better insight in this particular app. However, I miss the community aspect in your breakdown, something I find pretty useful as Goodreads still is my #1 source to find new books as my friends on there are reading them. Bookstagram or other platforms just don’t give me that much recommendations, sadly.
Hardcover has a community feature where you can follow other readers and see what they’re reading. They are also working on adding a prompts section where you can ask for book recs based on a specific challenge prompt or the mood you’re in.
I haven’t heard of this app before. I’ll have to check it out. I just started using Storygraph. Mostly I’m still with Goodreads though since most of my information is already there. I’m always looking for new trackers. Thanks for the info.
I have not heard of this app. I really like the idea of being able to set different more specific goals though.
I’ve used Goodreads since 2010 and I joined Storygraph last year, which I like because it’s used to host a lot of challenges that I take part in. I didn’t know about this one prior to reading your post but it looks really interesting!
This is a new one to me – I might have to look into it!
I’ve never heard of this app, but it sounds like it has some great features. I’ve been using Goodreads for years and I love it, although there are definitely features I wish they would add. Change is hard for me, so I’ll probably just stick with GR, but it’s nice to know there are other options out there, just in case.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Interesting! I hadn’t heard of this app before. It looks like it has many features in common with Storygraph, which I’ve really been enjoying. I like the series tracker feature — how cool!
I hadn’t heard of this one before! While I will probably always have GoodReads in some capacity (I know it has it’s issues, but I really like some of the groups and the reading challenges), I’ve been using a secondary tracking app for more stats (Bookmory). I might check this one out and see if I like it better than Bookmory – it looks like it has more features that I might like. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this app with us!
I usually use StoryGraph at the moment, but there are things it doesn’t do — I should really shop around a bit more and check out this one!
I’m still on Goodreads, but I have been using StoryGraph as well. I enjoy the book statistics it gives me.